Demand for Assam NRC-like exercise grows in Meghalaya

Guwahati: After witnessing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise being conducted in Assam, pressure groups in neighbouring Meghalaya have reiterated their long-pending demands for a similar exercise in the state.

Speaking on the matter, North East Student Organisation (NESO) chairman Samuel Jyrwa said, “What we want is that in all the states of the Northeastern region, NRC should be conducted.” He added that the exercise must be done with a specific base year for each state so as to ensure that “all the people who have entered illegally into all [Northeast] states can be detected and be deported”.

The hill state of Meghalaya has been witnessing excessive and unabated influx of immigrants from different parts of the South Asian subcontinent, especially Bangladesh and Nepal.

“The government in consultation with the Khasi Students’ Union and different social organisations have come [up] with [a] mechanism to check the inflow of people where entry and exit points will be installed around the border areas of the state,” the chairman added.

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The union took note that if the influx of illegal immigrants continues and remains unchecked, then there is a likelihood that Meghalaya too will soon become like Tripura or Assam resulting in indigenous communities getting reduced to minorities within their state.

The much-awaited updated final NRC was released in Assam on Saturday, excluding names of 19.07 lakh applicants, including those who did not submit claims. Names of 3.11 crore applicants were included in the list, the NRC state coordinator’s office said.

A total of 3,30,27,661 persons applied for NRC through 68,37,660 applications.